A Fig in the Window: The story of Boaz and the Foolish Woman
One morning Boaz awoke from a long dream wherein the Lord told Boaz it was time to plow his field. Boaz had been waiting for this day to come. He sprang from his bed and told Ruth what the Lord had said. The news delighted Ruth, so she gathered her husband’s plowing sandals while he ate his morning figs.
“I will watch you plow from the window,” Ruth said as he strode proudly from the cottage.
The day was warm and breezy, but when Boaz arrived at his plow, he found it had been desecrated.
“Who hath desecrated my plow?” Boaz wondered aloud. Ruth heard him from the window, and she started to cry.
Boaz noticed a young goat herder in the distance whipping a baby goat. Boaz slowly approached and asked if he knew who had done such an evil thing to his plow. The young goat herder stopped whipping and whispered he had seen the foolish woman from the village desecrating his plow. He had seen her in a puddle of moonlight only two nights ago.
Boaz returned home and packed many figs before setting out to find the foolish woman. It wasn’t long before Boaz found the foolish woman sleeping in a nearby cave.
“Why did you desecrate my plow!?” Boaz cried.
The foolish woman said nothing. Instead, she stared blankly down into the valley. As the woman continued her silence Boaz slapped her across the face and returned home.
“I slapped her across the face,” Boaz said to Ruth. Ruth walked over to the window and began to cry.
The next morning a great curse befell Boaz. The figs in his bowl turned to ash, Ruth became dizzy, and his many sons could no longer speak. This troubled Boaz.
Boaz decided to seek out Jesus to ask for forgiveness for slapping the foolish woman. He had heard of the many healings Jesus had performed and hoped he could lift the awful curse and fix his desecrated plow.
Boaz headed towards Nazareth because he heard Jesus was there. Boaz walked many days with only a little water and his feet began to ache. When Boaz finally arrived in Nazareth, he learned that Jesus was no longer there, but instead the town was filled with tax collectors and prostitutes.
This was during the great orgy of Nazareth and Boaz waited near the river many days until the orgy was over.
Finally, a tax collector came to wash himself in the river and said to Boaz, “I will tell you where Jesus is, but first you must give me your sandals as payment.”
Boaz handed the tax collector his plowing sandals.
“Meet me here tomorrow morning and I will tell you what you want to know.”
The next morning Boaz waited by the river, but the tax collector had left town with his sandals so he could spend them on prostitutes.
This made Boaz even more tired and hungry, so he laid down by the river and prayed. The tall grass moved slowly. In the distance he heard the laughing of slaves in the field gathering wheat. A great sadness overcame Boaz because even the slaves in the field had a better life than he.
Boaz drifted into a deep slumber where the Lord came to him and told him to return home and plow his field.
“I told you to plow your field,” the Lord said.
“My plow is broken, and I have no sandals,” Boaz replied.
The Lord told him to pray by the river the next day before returning home.
“And when you get home, place a fig in the window each night. If I return and there is no fig, a great curse will befall your family.”
In the morning, he did just as the Lord instructed before he started walking home, barefoot.
When Boaz got home, he found his wife Ruth crying by the window. She was very dizzy.
“Do not cry but instead place a fig in the window tonight and every night after,” Boaz said.
In the morning Boaz awoke to find his plow in good working order as well as a new pair of plowing sandals waiting at his doorstep.
Boaz never slapped the foolish woman again even though she continued to desecrate many plows across the land.